Chase The Dark
by PinkRangerV
Summary: The Dino Rangers lose, with fatal consequences. AU. DARK FIC.


A\N: You know what my next fic was supposed to be? A _crack!fic_ involving a _Tommy who was apparently insane_. It was _funny_. It was _interesting_. It was _not a deathfic and my brain was not conspiring against me_.

Anyway, yeah, here's a deathfic\horror fic. Enjoy.

* * *

><p><em>There is nothing left of you\ I can see it in your eyes\ Sing the anthem of the angels\ And say your last goodbye<em>... -Breaking Benjamin, Anthem of the Angels

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

It would be easier if they could see how they'd lost.

They couldn't.

At first, in the first few cold hours, trapped and alone, they couldn't even understand. They still thought it would be over in a few days, that the others were coming, that Good would triumph over Evil.

But then they just didn't see how it had happened at all.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Day.

Days, plural.

Week.

Weeks, plural.

At two weeks, Kira had fallen silent. The trio were playing their new favorite game, talking about what they'd do when they got out of there. It was a good game, they could get loud and talk like normal children, overriding each other and laughing and joking, and for a few precious minutes they'd defeat the darkness of their cell.

But Kira fell silent.

The other two kept talking. On some level they were afraid. Their gem-sister's silence was a warning. And Kira confirmed their fears, reaching out to Ethan and taking his hand.

Ethan fell silent as well.

Conner didn't try to keep talking, but he didn't do anything until Kira took his hand. Then he shook his head.

Kira didn't reply.

"No." Conner's voice lost the perky, smooth tone it always took on when he lied, deepening and letting the pain of hours of screams through. "No, it can't-_we_ can't-"

Kira kept holding her gem-brothers' hands.

Conner fell to his knees beside them. He didn't cry. There weren't tears yet, it was still numb and cold in his heart, and Kira found herself morbidly wondering if any of them would ever cry again.

The boys linked hands as well, a silent circle of loss.

They were never going to be free.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Dr. Oliver's warnings that the only way Mesegog could use the Dino Gems' powers were to destroy the Rangers was...just a _bit_ off.

Mesegog didn't want to use the Dino Gems' powers. Not yet.

He wanted to use the _Rangers_.

Kira had laughed bitterly and pointed out that when you warned a little girl not to walk alone after dark, you didn't actually tell her about a man lurking in the shadows, you told her about the big mean dog down the road. Conner and Ethan didn't quite get it, but as Kira added, they were boys. No one had ever _had_ to give them _that_ warning.

She was perversely glad. Maybe less weight on their souls to begin with would help them survive this somehow.

Mesegog's fortress was a revamped scientific lab. Parts of it were still ruined from the bombs Dr. Oliver had set off, but some of it was an actual laboratory, and a few doctors had been convinced by Anton Mercer Industries's CEO that the real money was in human experimentation (or maybe they'd already enjoyed it, who knew, and who cared-when Mesegog had what he wanted, he'd kill the scientists involved anyway).

Sometimes, Dr. Mercer would experiment on them himself. They tried not to talk about that. They would cry quietly in a corner instead, shaking and waiting for the next surge of pain, long after the cold, sharp metals were gone.

Mesegog wasn't too interested in the experiments, from what Conner guessed. He wanted to convince the Rangers to serve him. Mesegog had brought Conner before him at the start of the mess, when the trio had been kidnapped. He'd offered the boy a chance to not only live, but be safe, unharmed. Conner, still naively believing in good and evil, had laughed in his face.

He wished he could go back. He wouldn't laugh this time.

But for the moment, he had refused, and so Mesegog wanted to see if he could use the Rangers anyway. The experiments were only to learn more about their powers and psyches. When Conner had explained that, Kira and Ethan had nodded.

They'd all tried to avoid saying that they were already doomed.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

They'd stopped holding onto hope in Dr. Oliver a few months in. There must have been something keeping him away. But they still dreamed that he was out there, fighting evil. Kept the dream private, perhaps, because no one wanted to dash that particular hope, but still...

Dr. Oliver had been thrown into his cell about a week after he'd been captured.

Mesegog had only given them one night together. Dr. Oliver had held his protoges throughout the night, whispering his pride and love and how much he wished he could have saved them. He'd asked them to dream again, about what they'd do when this was over.

They had actually dreamed. Not fallen asleep-Conner had remembered soccer, Kira her music, Ethan that he'd wanted to develop top-secret technology and video games at the same time. Together, for a single moment, they were a family.

It would be poetic to say that the moment stood like a candle amidst the darkness of their minds afterwards, but instead they remembered screaming as their mentor, their gem-brother, was dragged away by Tyrannodrones the next morning. Poetic moments didn't exist for them anymore.

Kira tried to sing to Ethan and Conner that night. They all cried instead.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

There was pain, and darkness, and despair.

Human nature does not cling to happy memories in the face of darkness. It clings to nothing, instead allowing joy to be swept away and the new life to take over, no matter how painful the new life may be. Cold examination tables, sharp needles, and blood and pain replaced dreams and games and school.

They hadn't seen sunlight in months.

Conner found himself growing stronger, in a dark and cold way, trying to keep his team together. He didn't laugh or joke anymore, instead a silent guardian, always watching, vigilant against the cell door opening and a Tyrannodrone coming to take one of his teammates away. He couldn't often defend them, but on the rare occasion when Kira or Ethan needed it, he could give them a few more hours, talk them through whatever they were feeling. When someone came back to take them and punish Conner's defiance, Kira or Ethan were strong again.

Ethan slowly stopped trying to understand. He couldn't. You could memorize a formula or analyze a situation, but this wasn't analyzable, this was just violence, a sentient being enacting violence on another group of sentience, and violating major rules for sentient societies in the process. It was incomprehensible, like cannibalism or torture...well, it _was_ torture. It required an understanding he didn't possess and never would. Instead, he gave in, letting the horrors wash over him and waiting.

Kira felt weak. She hurt all the time. She could barely remember being whole, and every day there was more, more pain, more terror, more everything. Her blood had long ago stopped, her body too frail to support anything but the most bare functions. Her body longed for rest, but there was no rest, not anymore, and no matter how much she tried to heal her teammates, the wounds kept appearing.

These were some of the things the Dino Rangers learned.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Ethan remembered the boy as Trent Ferdanez. An old friend.

He had the White Dino Gem.

Their gem-brother was welcomed. They had lost compulsions about touch, and they hugged him, and he, frightened, hugged them back, weeping on Conner's shoulder at the loss of his adopted father.

He knew what was happening in the outside world, and told them. When the Dino Rangers had vanished, some people had thought nothing was wrong and continued on, while others had rightly assumed something had gone horribly wrong. It hadn't mattered. The Black Ranger had appeared after a few weeks, his eyes glowing green and battling anyone and everyone.

Chaos ruled. The world was being plunged into anarchy. But there was one strong leader, one man the world flocked to: Anton Mercer.

It was no surprise to the gem-siblings that Mesegog's alter-ego was as insane as he was, but they had to show their new brother anyway, with thoughts fluttering across the gems like telepathy. Trent's eyes widened, and he reached out, torn and bleeding emotionally, for their minds.

They all felt, not pity, but an empty, numb version as they looked upon someone so unscarred they could actually bleed.

Trent had been taken to Mesegog and ordered to fight alongside the Black Ranger. He had refused. The White Dino Gem had taken over. He had fought, and they had gone back and forth, gem and boy, until finally Trent was able to save some civilians from the Black Ranger and had been punished...

He would hold out, but he didn't know how long it would last.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

A week after Trent had been brought to them, he lashed out.

Dr. Mercer had experimented on Kira, and when she had been thrown back into the cell, she had gone to Trent for comfort, since Conner was pacing, trying to force strength into muscles that were weak from lack of food. Trent had thrown her across the room.

Conner was there like lightning.

The battle was short and decisive. Trent was stronger, but Conner was smarter, and more used to fighting Tyrannodrones and even Mesegog if he had to. When Trent reasserted control, he fell to his knees, sobbing.

His gem-siblings went to him, holding him, crying with him and telling him it was all right, they understood, they didn't blame him. They had heard the shift in personality through the gems. They knew it wasn't his fault.

They'd all hoped that would be the end of it, but it seemed that Dr. Mercer had found some way of triggering Trent's episodes. Once a week; once a day; finally Conner stood between Trent and the others, telling him that he had to stay away until he was calmer.

The Tyrannodrones came for Trent an hour later. Conner breathed out a sigh as the other boy (or perhaps man-how long had it been?) was taken away. Maybe he would come back calmer.

He never came back.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

More pain. More darkness.

Somewhere in it, the three Dino Rangers lost...something. Some vital part of themselves. They stopped fighting, simply going along obediently when they were taken away. They stopped dreaming or struggling.

The pain stopped as well, leaving behind a numb, empty wasteland where human beings should have been.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Someone named Jason came to save them.

He was a big, hulking man with a scar across one cheek and said he knew Tommy. They didn't know who that was until he said 'Dr. Thomas Oliver', and then a vague memory of green and sunlight and warmth flitted through their collective mind, long ago pulled into one indistinct being.

It was enough to convince them to follow him.

Obedient still, despite their freedom, the trio followed. Jason was kind to them, and smiled, and made whispered jokes as they snuck through the fortress. They had to go the long way, he said, to a place so broken Mesegog didn't know about it, and it was a few days' journey away on foot.

He took them outside.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Sunlight held no meaning for them anymore, nor did moonlight. They could see them with their eyes, the sun and moon, but the objects were meaningless without any context.

Jason fed them something he called 'emergency bars' and claimed they needed the sugars and fats. They thought it was the best food they'd ever tasted, although none of them save Conner could eat more than half a bar. Conner ate the rest for the others, and slept longer. Jason chuckled at one point and said it was just the superspeed taking its toll, they would all be hungry soon from their own powers.

They had almost forgotten their own powers.

The three days they spent in the woods were odd, an awakening and yet resisted. For the first time in years, they saw a human being's face; heard laughter; saw smiles. They were safe and outdoors. There was no pain and they were promised an escape for it.

They blinked like little birds, stunned by the world.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

They were almost escaped when Jason died.

He was showing them the portal, a hijacked invisiportal set up by someone named Billy. They had no reservations about walking through it, but Jason had wanted to warn them anyway, unaware that they would follow the man who had fed and freed them to the death cheerfully.

And then there was a hole in Jason's chest.

Elsa had fired the shot. She was unusual, Conner remembered, because she used weapons other villains didn't, like guns...

She had aimed at the Rangers.

Conner had made a split-second decision, dragging Jason and shouting at his gem-siblings to go, go, go, but the bullet had followed through anyway.

He'd caught a glimpse of cold metal walls and space-age technology, as if they'd stepped into _Star Wars_, and a large blue tube with a name, _Zordon_, written on a plaque...

His first glimpse of the Command Center was his last.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Ethan and Kira were confined to Med Bay.

They slept and ate and did nothing else for a few days, but then began to chafe at it, long before they were well. The room was too much like the experimentation rooms, the whiteness and florescents, and they wanted the sun again. Perhaps in some part of their mind they were under the impression that if they were to walk out, to walk through the hijacked invisiportal again, they would find Conner and Jason on the other side.

Conner was laying in a bed at the end of the room, where Dana, a Pink Ranger, was trying against all hope to save him. But they barely noticed until the alarms began going off and people ran in and then it all stopped, and the Red Dino Gem breathed its last.

They stopped wanting to go outside after that.

They stopped wanting _anything_ after that.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Physically, they were as healthy as they'd ever be, so Dana let them out of Med Bay.

Mentally, it was another story.

They had no words for _sun_ or _moon_, or even words for anything. Ethan and Kira communicated in a preverbal telepathy that no one could break. The sign language that Conner had known in life transferred to their minds, and they understood miming, so it was possible to communicate with them, but it was difficult to break through their mental barriers.

No one really tried.

The world was gone. No more schools or malls or normal; instead empty ghost towns remained, and humanity was herded into camps provided by Anton Mercer, who was revered as a near-god by people who feared and adored him. Wes mentioned at one meeting that he was just Mesegog by this point, and the civilian Anton Mercer was dead, but Kira and Ethan looked at him and only saw the monster who tortured them, so it didn't matter.

Some people had escaped. The Command Center extended for miles underground, and people lived there, in cities made of tents, growing food using advanced alien technology. The Rangers ruled by military authority, though they tried their best to keep democracy alive and well any way they reasonably could.

_Post-apocalyptic_ had flitted across Kira's mind.

_Zombies_, Ethan had replied.

They had laughed. It was an odd thing to laugh. They knew they weren't sick, but the motions felt strange and like something was wrong.

Although Kira and Ethan were technically Rangers, no one knew what they _really_ were. Some days they wandered among the tent-cities, until Haley came to find them and shepherd them back. (Haley? Who was she? Ethan let an old memory flit across their shared thoughts, but it wasn't much, just a smile and a sunny building, but the Rangers all said she was their friend, so they thought of her as _mother_, the only word that made sense, even if the concept was beyond their grasp.)

Some days they spent with the Rangers, learning, training, growing stronger. They would always be weak and stunted, two years without food or sunlight or exercise had taken a toll, especially given that they were both in growth spurts for at least part of one year, but they were competent on the battlefield.

Ultimately, they were an anomaly.

It wasn't something they noticed. In this new world, they had each other.

It was enough.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Ethan had tried to fight the Black Ranger.

The White Ranger had held back against Kira. He always did. So did she. It was their way of flirting, and Ethan respected it, finding it too distasteful to bother with and preferring to fight alongside whoever else was on the battlefield.

But the Black Ranger was stronger, and Ethan had forgotten to block.

So Ethan's head was cut off and the Blue Dino Gem breathed out and shattered.

Kira screamed.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Dr. Oliver died by his own hand, shooting himself in the desert.

Kira was on suicide watch. She didn't know. But she felt the Black Dino Gem fall.

She couldn't remember why she wept, but she wept for her lost gem-brother anyway.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Kira escaped her suicide watch when someone else, a slightly crazy boy named Ziggy, offered her a ride to something called Corinth. She had accepted, and along the way Ziggy had begun to teach her English.

It was an odd relationship, the two of them in that white van. Kira had offered herself as payment, but Ziggy had just been confused and then insulted. Instead they took turns driving, hunting, or looting stores. There was very little edible food left, but if you knew what you were doing you could survive.

Ziggy died one day when they were looting a store. He tripped and his neck fell against a wire that had been left as part of a survivalist's booby traps. It had severed his head cleanly, the blood not even spraying Kira.

She watched dispassionately, then said, in English, "Dead."

She walked away.

*PRDT*PRDT*PRDT*

Trent found her staring at the edge of a cliff.

They were somewhere in Nevada. Ziggy hadn't taken Kira very far. She was staring at the edge and the jagged rocks on the desert floor below and in the hot dry sun of the place, realizing that this was...

There wasn't a word for it. Ethan knew the word, but Ethan was away.

Trent put his hand on Kira's shoulder.

She remembered, still, how to speak through the gems. She sang to him, in their minds, hesitantly. Of death. Of loss. Of how nothing would be recovered.

It was different for Trent, they both knew. He could recover. He would be scarred, permanently, but he had hope, and a future. He could move on and find a new life, and would be no more broken than anyone alive today. Pain was a facet of life now.

They stayed there for a very long time before Trent shook his head.

Kira raised an eyebrow. "Dead." She explained. Even without concepts, she knew humans feared it. Odd, how inhuman she felt...

Trent shrugged. "Dead."

His hand slipped into hers.

They smiled at each other before turning to the cliff edge and taking a step off.

_Finis._


End file.
